The Japanese word for two, ni, sounds pretty close to the Japanese word for meow, nyan. Since 1987, Japan has been celebrating Cat Day on February 22 (2-22) — or “nyan, nyan, nyan." This is a fitting "holiday" for a country with the world’s highest rate of cat ownership.
To mark this auspicious feline occasion, we thought we would highlight some of our favorite cats across the web.

First, we turn to Street View for a glimpse of the Station Master of Kichigahara Station in Okayama prefecture. It’s not uncommon in Japan for cats to be appointed as honorary Station Masters. Here our Street View camera caught Kotora (“small tiger”) taking a quick nap after a fierce morning of making sure the trains ran on time:

While over in Fukushima prefecture we captured Station Master, Bus, keeping a watching gaze over Ashinomaki Onsen Station:

If you’re looking for a perfect place for a cat party this Cat Day, there is nowhere better than the Cat Islands. There are a number of “Cat Islands” in Japan. Here on the island of Aoshima, where the cat population vastly outnumber the human population, the feline residents make the most of morning sun:

While over at Tashirojima Island, a cat island in the Sendai Bay in Tohoku, the cats are a huge drawcard for tourists. After seeing, feeding and touching the furry residents, many stay in cat-themed cottages designed by famous manga artist Machiko Satonaka:

If you’d like to mark this year’s Cat Day with your own digital tribute, you can join the feline fans over at the mobile game, Neko Atsume. Over the last year this cat gathering mobile app, which lets you leave out food and toys for virtual cats in your virtual yard, has drawn as more global search interest than Japanese cultural icon Godzilla.

And Japanese Cat Day would not be Cat Day without a tribute to Maru — the most famous feline on the Internet, master of the box and the LOLs: